Jon Anik, host of ESPN’s flagship MMA series, MMA Live, spoke with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher about his start with the program and everything regarding its past, present, and future in MMA’s battle for mainstream acceptance.

“I was doing a boxing show for 1510: The Zone radio station in Boston, and we did that for about four years,” Anik said about his first combat-sports related gig. “We ended up covering EliteXC’s debut Pay Per View and that’s where I really got the bug. At ESPN they knew I had a boxing background and when the digital media department launched MMA Live I got the first crack and haven’t looked back.”

Since its inception in 2008, MMA Live has hosted over 260 shows when weigh-in specials and post-fight extras are factored in, and Anik has lead the charge from the beginning. Because of his unique position, Anik is privy to a side of professional fighters that most fans and analysts never get to see, which only serves to enhance his perspective on the sport and accurately represent its athletes in the mainstream.

“When you have that type of access I think it’s definitely going to change your opinion, and given the nature of ESPN I think a lot of fighters might be different in their interviews with us than they are with other people,” Anik said. “Whether it’s because they’re in the national spotlight or because they’re on their best behavior for ESPN, who knows? It’s pretty special to be able to work with these fighters directly, and a lot of times I’ll be confided in with personal information that I won’t even go with because I’m not really in that reporter’s seat; I’m more interested in helping them with their analyst positions.”

While the show has experienced few setbacks since its debut, Anik revealed some of the challenges that have gone on behind the scenes that most viewers do not consciously consider.

“Just doing the show every week for 130 weeks without missing one is some sort of accomplishment,” Anik said. “In two and a half years we’ve done more than 260 shows. With that said, this sport has just as much daily news as any other sport so we wish we could be on more than that, so one challenge is putting on a weekly show and the other is only being shown on a weekly basis.”

With such a lengthy run for an MMA-themed program, MMA Live has no doubt evolved since its debut. Anik highlighted the most important evolution the crew has undergone.

“We’re in a much different place at ESPN than we were when we started this thing in April of 2008,” Anik said. “We’ve made a lot of strides internally and hopefully we’re just scratching the surface of where this thing can go. Maybe early on the show was a little too scripted and we weren’t being natural or fun, but I think our chemistry wasn’t there and now we’re hitting our stride and it’s a lot more fun than work now than it was in the beginning.”

MMA Live first began as an internet program as ESPN.com, but recently made the move to a late-night time slot on ESPN2, rewarding hardcore fans for their continued support with a regular programming slot tailor-made for DVR.

“I think people are more behind the show than they are behind the sport if I were to speak generally,” Anik said about ESPN’s stance on the sport, adding, “but there are people in high places that are really trying to push the sport in a big way. I think it’s just going to be a slow process; we’re now seeing highlights on Sportscenter for almost every UFC Pay Per View and I think we just have to keep going in that direction. People recognize the growth of this sport, so ESPN knows that MMA has traction and they’re going to devote more and more attention to it in the future.”

It is refreshing to see a weekly program devoted to mixed martial arts on a major network like ESPN, however, many fans are reasonably impatient and underwhelmed. To them, mainstream acceptance means major coverage on programs like Sportscenter, only on a daily–not bi-monthly–basis.

“I think it’s a combination,” Anik said about the importance of MMA Live versus Sportscenter’s coverage of the sport. “If MMA Live was on five days a week at 330 in the afternoon leading into NFL Live then that would lead to a huge swelling of the fan base. There are only so many hours of programming you have and there are so many programs competing, so I’m more satisfied than a lot of people because it may seem like we haven’t made a lot of progress since April of 2008, but I have seen a ton of growth. I hear you on being a little impatient, but overall I think the job has been going pretty good.”

Anik discussed two major obstacles he saw regarding the continued growth of MMA in terms of mainstream media coverage: time and blood.

“Time is number one and education is a close second, turning ignorance of a lot of people into knowledge,” Anik said. “I also think blood is a huge issue because MMA is very superficially violent compared to the other sports. If I was starting a promotion today—as much as Kenny Florian hates to hear me say it—I wouldn’t allow elbows on the ground because a bloody canvas isn’t good for mainstream acceptance.”

Finally, Anik let us know what he hopes to see in the near future for his team at MMA Live, a program continues to carve out its place in the mainstream due to the continued support of hardcore fans.

“We’re on for the rest of the year on ESPN2 and I would think for the foreseeable future, which is exciting,” Anik said. “If you remember when we went on there in May it was a four-week trial, so if the MMA community didn’t get behind us the show wouldn’t have continued. The goal for the show is to have a presence at every UFC Pay Per View.”